Nov 14, 201411:26 AM

A look at the latest in local food, dining and drinking news

New Flavor Face food truck hits the streets of Sacramento

Fans of eclectic fare with international flair may want to check out Flavor Face, a new area food truck with influences ranging from Mediterranean to the Far East.

The truck, which started making the rounds last month in Sacramento and will appear Saturday in Tahoe Park, is the brainchild of chef Brian Stansberry, who is also new to the city after building his name and profile over two decades based in Minnesota.

Stansberry says he drew the inspiration for Flavor Face’s menu from his years of international travels as well as the agricultural bounty of the Sacramento region.

“I love the farm-to-fork movement and that everything grows here,” Stansberry says. “There’s an excitement about food in Sacramento, and I want to help and contribute to that.”

Flavor Face’s cuisine emphasizes what Stansberry classifies as “gourmet international fusion” for the food-truck crowd. He says the menu highlight of this weekend's event will be his Cherrywood Smoked Garlic Roasted Crab dish, while other offerings include sandwiches like a Crab Mac and Cheese grilled cheese (with jumbo lump crab, Vermont white cheddar mac and cheese, and American cheese on sourdough) and the "Sole Roll" featuring crusted filet of sole, parmesan bacon salad, and red onion on a kaiser roll.

Before settling in Sacramento to be closer to family, the Vallejo-born Stansberry made a name as both a private chef (he once made Thanksgiving dinner for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Matt Kemp) and the executive chef at Minnesota’s Augsburg College, where he prepared meals for dignitaries including Hillary Clinton, Bob Dole and the king and queen of Norway. Last week, Stansberry says, Flavor Face was in Los Angeles catering a video shoot for Nicki Minaj.

Stansberry was one of five chefs chosen by Major League Baseball to feature his food at this year’s MLB All-Star Game in Minneapolis, where Flavor Face made a splashy debut before Stansberry and his truck headed west. (See a clip about Flavor Face from Minneapolis' CBS affiliate below.)

Stansberry says the name Flavor Face derives from the expression a person makes when eating something delicious—“and I’ve seen a lot of flavor faces this [month],” he adds.